Photos: Adobe Flash CS3

This Flash update creates animation with more cooperation than ever from other Adobe applications.

The interface of Flash CS3 more closely resembles the other Adobe applications.

In Flash CS3, you can freely move around various tools and libraries.

Being able to import Photoshop and Illustrator files--and accept or reject each layer in the process--is a boon in Flash CS3.

We copied a selection from Fireworks, went to Flash, and selected Paste. This dialog box walked us through importing the image as either a layer or a movie frame.

The introduction of Shape Primitive tools lets you alter shapes, such as making a rectangle's corners curvy.

The new Pen tool within Flash CS3 is similar to the one for drawing in Illustrator.

You can drag prebuilt components, such as buttons, directly onto the stage.

Flash CS3 uses the new ActionScript 3, which the Mozilla Firefox browser will support in the future without requiring any installation.

There's a new debugger in Flash CS3.

When importing video content, Flash CS3 steps you through encoding to the FLV format.

During import, you can crop, add cue points, and pick a skin that viewers will see when playing the video. The rebuilt Flash Video Encoder performs batch processing.

Now you can export a Flash animation as a QuickTime movie that renders the same way as Adobe Flash Player would render it.

Adobe Device Central CS3 lets you preview how Flash animation will look and work (or not) on various smart phones and PDAs.